Your letter appears to have been written a month ago,
but for some cause or other it did not reach me till beg[?] a
long time after its date, & at the time I received it & indeed
up to the present moment my thoughts have been deeply engaged  
upon what I may call our common subject. This is one reason  
why I did not notice your letter sooner; and another is that  
having unhappily Cataracts on both my eyes I have not been  
able to see either to read or to write for some time, and this  
circumstance makes me aoord correspondence as mach as possible  
With respect to the publication of your volume of Poems, no person  
wishes it more success than I do, because no person can feel  
himself more interested in the cause, which it is intended to  
promote; indeed, I think that a work of this description may  
secure the attention of some, whom prose-compositions would not  
so much lay hold of & thus a greater number of persons may  
become acquainted with the case of the unhappy people whose  
rights we advocate. I am sorry that I am so situated as  
not to be able to contribute some little morceau towards  
your Book. But these little things are so foreign to my  
habits of composition, that I know I should not be able to  
satisfy myself & therefore must by you to excuse me.

I am obliged to you for your wish that I may live[?]  
to record the total abolition of Slavery. This would be most  
delighlfull, but I have no expectation of it. I may, however  
probably live to see the monster Slavery receive its death  
wound from the British Parliament. This will satisfy me  
and I shall be most truly & reverently thankful for it--